IDM Mailing Archive

quoted 4 lines i could go on in my

>i could go on in my >adulation, but i think the point is that after weston's departure, the orb >switched from being a "mere" pop group (nothing wrong with pop, mind you) >to something, thanfully, a whole lot less manageable.

Hmm ... heh heh ... well, I wouldn't go that far. I agree that the production on _PF_ and _OT_ is a lot meatier and more interesting, but for the most part the songs aren't as good. As far as the "ambient house" trip, it seemed to be a stepping stone more than anything else. The term is pretty meaningless today, but I for one still think it's an interesting idea. For my money, the best example of the genre is not the Orb at all, but Sun Electric's live album.

quoted 9 lines what i find most ironic is that the orb's earliest work (along with the klf

>what i find most ironic is that the orb's earliest work (along with the klf >and irresistible force) is generally credited with reviving ambient music >for the club crowd, while to my ears it's only with "pomme fritz" and >_orbvs terrarvm_ (and of course _ffwd_ before them both) that patternson >actually begins seriously pursuing ambient as the organizational principle >of his music (and not just some spacey, noodly electronic interlude to plop >between his flirtations with, alternately, the dancefloor and the pop >charts). easy to say, of course, when that process--now several years into >it--seems to have needed to happen, anyway, but still ironic...

Well, the thing we have to keep in mind that this is a continuum. "Ambient" for a raver is one thing -- for me it means Robert Rich et al. I have to wonder what sort of waves _Adventures_Beyond_The_Ultraworld_ would make were it released today, but there's no disputing that it was the shit when it came out. Likewise, were FFWD>> or _PF_ the Orb's first release, the story would be quite different. The only complaint I ever had with the Orb's albums were that they were too tidy. When I'd see them live -- man, that was no noodly electronic interlude. "Ambient as an organizational principle" is something of a wonderful oxymoron. What is groundbreaking music for me is always that which builds its own form of order out of what would otherwise be chaos.

quoted 4 lines Anybody know what's up with the Orb's delicious little

>Anybody know what's up with the Orb's delicious little >label, AO, as every release was a fantastic extension >of orb-ian extents... >Thinkin' about it, what about Inter Modo??

Inter-Modo is the proverbial two meters under and has been for some time. From what I understand it was a rather unpleasant situation. --Seofon